The final entry of This Day in UTA Football History is fairly straightforward when all qualifying seasons are on the table. In 2013, the final game of 1985, and therefore the program, occurred on this day in that season, as it was in the inaugural year of this blog.
However, since it was covered in 2013, there were some interesting options on the table this year, though none were just outwardly striking. In 1963, the Arlington State Rebels lost to the Trinity Tigers 12-7 in San Antonio. That wrapped up a 1-8 season. In 1968, the UT Arlington Rebels beat the Lamar Tech Cardinals 37-20 to wrap up a 6-4, 3-1 mark in the Southland Conference. The prior game knocked the Rebs out of contention of the outright SLC championship race and dropped them out of the national polls. I still contend, looking at the stats, rosters and schedule results, the 1968 Rebels were one of the best all-time teams that ran into a couple of bad luck scenarios.
But the game I will feature today is the finale of the 1974 Mavericks, though at the time, what would make this game distinct had yet to show itself.
To refresh, this season was the debut of Coach Harold "Bud" Elliott. At ten seasons, he coached on the sidelines longer than anyone else at the University level. His 46 wins are top of the University coaches list, though his 64 losses are as well. His .418 winning percentage is fourth among the five candidates, though if you factor out this year, it rises to a more respectable .455.
He coached through some lean years and despite having fewer scholarships to hand out than his SLC peers, a smaller budget and no true home field for the first half of his tenure, he did bring the Mavs back to competitive levels. In 1970, they were 0-10. In '71 it was a 2-9 mark. A 5-6 year, with a second place SLC mark, showed some optimism in 1972, but they fell back to 4-6 mark in '73. Elliott's predecessor, John Symank left of his own accord and I contend, from the outside looking in, that he knew what was coming in 1974 and later.
Elliott did suffer from untimely mistakes often which is likely why he had only one true dominant year, a 9-2 mark in 1979. I did a more thorough blog entry about it here. He did win a conference title in 1981, the only one in the University/Division I era. That team however lost a game in conference and ended the year at 6-5. He had four other years at 5-6, missing titles and/or bowl games by one loss a few times.
But despite all that, there is no question that he had a direct impact on the program and any historical look has to recognize his significance.
October 26th was the last time the 1974 Mavericks were featured in The Maverick Rambler, a 28-14 loss to UT El Paso. UTA went to Pacific the following week and in a winnable game, lost 26-17 in Stockton, California. The losing ways temporarily halted against Southwestern Louisiana, 21-17. That was the first Coach Elliott victory.
It would be the only victory on the season as Arkansas State trounced UTA in the following week, 42-12. The 1,750 fans on hand wouldn't be the smallest crowd of the season, and six other crowds in Turnpike/Arlington Stadium would be smaller for a UTA game in their seven-year run at the stadium. I reference that due to the supposed poor crowd in last week's entry that spurred the decision to terminate the program. That crowd was almost three times higher in 1985 than in '74.
Today's season finale against Lamar would see a familiar face. Along with Arkansas State, Lamar stayed with UTA during the entirety of Arlington State/UT Arlington's time in the conference. As all three Universities were founding members of the SLC, it created a string of 22 straight games. That is tops among UTA foes and is still top ten for both the other programs.
Early on, these two teams in today's game, UTA and Lamar, were the class of the SLC. Lamar won the inaugural title in 1964 and again in '65. Both teams shared it in '66 and UTA won the title outright in '67. There's a bit of an irony there as after Vernon Glass left the Cardinal sideline, the winning ways did too.
In 1970, '75, '83 and '85, both these team occupied the bottom two spots, not counting tiebreakers. In 1982, they both had identical 1-4 marks, tied for second to last. In 1972, '73, '74, '75, '79, '82, '83 and '85, the teams were within one game of each other in the standings.
I mentioned last week that teams like Drake or Louisiana Tech just had UTA's number. However, in a rare reversal, UTA just had Lamar's number. Despite the years above, UTA always seemed to figure out the Cardinals.
After today's game, Lamar held a slim 6-5 lead in the all-time series. For the astute readers, I said four paragraphs up that the Southwestern Louisiana game would be the only victory in 1974. I rarely give the outcome of the game before the article, but the significance of today's game would not be known for a while. The teams would play 11 more times, all UTA wins. From a gap of 31-7 in 1981 to a small 13-10 victory in Beaumont in 1984, every game after today was a UTA win, including the 1981 championship clincher in Arlington. Six games in Arlington, five in Beaumont, all Mav wins. Today would be the last loss to the Cardinals.
On this day in UTA football history, the UTA Mavericks travel to Cardinal Stadium to take on Lamar.
Taken from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram November 24, 1974.
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